Kershaw pushed for Game 4 start

Oct. 7, 2013

Updated Oct. 8, 2013 12:06 a.m.

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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw 'probably had the deciding voice' in the committee decision to have him pitch Game 4 of the NLDS against the Braves on short rest, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw 'probably had the deciding voice' in the committee decision to have him pitch Game 4 of the NLDS against the Braves on short rest, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers paid a lot of money to give Clayton Kershaw the chance to do something he had never done before.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he was emboldened to start Kershaw on three days’ rest in Monday’s Game 4 against the Atlanta Braves – the first time in his professional career Kershaw had pitched on short rest – by the fact he had a second-ace safety net in right-hander Zack Greinke.

“You’ve got two aces. … Without Zack being there, I don’t think you make the same decision,” Mattingly said. “I think I’d question myself a lot more when you have two aces and if you don’t play them both.”

Mattingly said the decision was made “by committee,” a group that included the coaching staff and Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti “and his group,” and was in discussion “before the season even ended.”

There appeared to be some dissent in that committee. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was quoted Sunday saying the Dodgers would not start Kershaw on short rest in a series they led because “He’s our future. You don’t want to mess around with that.”

But Honeycutt said Kershaw’s exceptional work ethic gives him confidence the Dodgers were not putting the 25-year-old at risk.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who work hard, but I don’t think anyone works harder than he does,” Honeycutt said of Kershaw, who acknowledged before Game 1 he was already thinking of how to change his preparation if asked to start Game 4. “I think talking with him this week probably gave Donnie and me and ownership a better feeling about this.

“(Kershaw) probably had the deciding voice.”

Mattingly said Kershaw was “barking right after (Game 1) that he was ready for Game 4,” even though he had thrown 124 pitches in seven innings Thursday in Atlanta.

Kershaw had thrown more pitches in a game just twice. One came in May when he threw a career-high 132 pitches against the Washington Nationals.

“As we talked to him (Sunday) night and we basically said, ‘Hey, Clay, you’ve got to be 100 percent sure. We’re not going to take any chances with your career,’” Mattingly said. “That is the last thing we’d do. And he said, ‘All the work I do, everything I go through every start it’s for this kind of game.’

“He was the one basically saying, ‘This is why I work so hard. This is the game I want.’”

Shoved aside by the decision to go for the kill in the best-of-5 series was right-hander Ricky Nolasco. Over his final three starts of the regular season, Nolasco gave up 19 runs and 24 hits in 12 innings.

Pushing him aside for Kershaw if the Dodgers were down, 2-1, in the series would have been an easy decision, Mattingly said. Skipping him with the Dodgers up seems more like a vote of no-confidence in Nolasco.

It also makes the rotation for the middle games of a best-of-7 National League Championship Series dangerous territory for the Dodgers, who watched Hyun-Jin Ryu struggle in Game 3 amid speculation he might be battling physical issues.

“I don’t feel that,” Honeycutt said of the assertion the Dodgers lacked confidence in Nolasco based on his poor finish to the season. “A five-game series is different than seven-game series. We’ve had a lot of conversations with Ricky during the week about what we felt and what we might do.

“We felt he was prepared for today. This guy is a pro. He’s going to be prepared to do whatever we ask him to do this afternoon and going forward. … At this point in time, we feel like this is the right move.”

The Dodgers weren’t concerned with a point in time beyond that, Mattingly said. The decision to pitch Kershaw in Game 4 would have repercussions in the NLCS with Kershaw unavailable to pitch before Game 2 on Saturday and will not be available to start Game 7.

“It’s about winning today,” Mattingly said. “This is not the time to look ahead. This is a time to take care of your business in one game.

“We talk about momentum in the playoffs. We win Game 1 (against the Braves). We feel good. You lose Game 2. You feel bad. You win Game 3. You feel good. So it’s day to day. We want to win today and this gives us our best chance.”

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